​​​​​​​Winston & Strawn Axes Student Job Offer Over Israel Remarks

Winston & Strawn LLP said Tuesday it has yanked a job offer to a former summer associate who the firm says distributed to the New York University School of Law Student Bar Association "inflammatory comments" about Hamas' recent attack on Israel.

The law student, who has been identified by the New York Post as Student Bar Association President Ryna Workman, made comments that are "profoundly in conflict with Winston & Strawn's values," the firm wrote in a statement posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

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— Winston & Strawn LLP (@WinstonLaw) October 10, 2023

According to the Post's reporting, Workman, who uses they/them pronouns, wrote a message to the NYU Law Student Bar Association on Tuesday expressing "absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression" and that "Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life."

Workman's statement garnered swift backlash online, including from the nonprofit watchdog organization StopAntisemitism, which tweeted on Tuesday that Workman lost their job offer from Winston & Strawn after "penning a horrifying justification for the murder, rape and kidnapping of Jews in a school newsletter."

In its Tuesday statement about rescinding Workman's job offer, Winston & Strawn expressed its support for the firm's Jewish colleagues and their families, as well as everyone affected by the attack.

"Winston stands in solidarity with Israel's right to exist in peace and condemns Hamas and the violence and destruction it has ignited in the strongest terms possible," the firm wrote. "We look forward to continuing to work together to eradicate anti-Semitism in all forms and to the day when hatred, bigotry and violence against all people have been eliminated."

"Our strength lies in our unity, empathy and shared humanity," it said.

John Beckman, senior vice president for public affairs at NYU, on Tuesday distanced the university from Workman's statement to the bar association.

"Acts of terrorism are immoral," Beckman said in a statement on the school's website. "The indiscriminate killing of civilians and hostage-taking, including children and the elderly, is reprehensible."

"Blaming victims of terrorism for their own deaths is wrong," he added.

Workman, whose LinkedIn appears to have been deleted, could not be immediately contacted for comment Tuesday.

--Editing by Michael Watanabe.

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